Search the Community

La Cosa Nostra Terminology (For you supposed modern LCN experts this list isn’t to be taken seriously as the official terminology but rather a collective of terms that have been present within the American LCN throughout the years and should be used in the correct appropriate manner.) Associate: an almost-there; someone who works with and for wiseguys, but who hasn't been sworn in as a member of the Family. Beef: a complaint or disagreement within the organization, usually discussed during a sit-down with higher-ups in the Family. Big earner: someone who makes a lot of money for the Family. A LOT of money. Books: the euphemism for membership in the Family, since nothing is ever written down. When there is an availability (when someone dies), the books are "opened." When no one is being "made," the books are "closed." Boss: the head of the crime Family; he is the only one who gives permission to "whack" or "make" someone, and he makes money from all Family operations; synonyms: don, chairman. Broken: demoted in rank; "knocked down." Button: a "made" member of the Mafia; soldier, wiseguy, goodfella, Man of Honor. Capo/Caporegime: a high ranking member of a Family who heads a crew (or group) of soldiers; a skipper, short for capodecina. Clip: to murder; see burn.. Commission,: the Mafia "ruling body", typically a panel made up of the bosses of the five New York Families, Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Colombo, and Bonanno sometimes with representatives from other U.S. Families, such as Chicago. Consigliere: the counsellor in a crime Family; advises boss and handles disputes within the ranks. Cosa Nostra/La Cosa Nostra: Italian for "this thing of ours," a mob family, the Mafia. Crew: a group of soldiers that takes orders from a capo. Do a piece of work: to murder; see burn. Earner: someone whose expertise is making money for the Family. Enforcer: a person who threatens, maims, or kills someone who doesn't cooperate with Family rules or deals. Friend of mine: introduction of a third person who is not a member of the Family but who can be vouched for by a Family member. Friend of ours: introduction of one made member to another. Going: about to be whacked. Going south: stealing, passing money under the table, going on the lam. Going to the mattresses/Hitting the, Taking to the: to go to war, using ruthless tactics without restraint. Hot place: a location suspected of being the target of law enforcement or surveillance. Ice: to murder; see burn. Joint: prison synonyms: the can, the pen. Loanshark: someone who lends mob money at an exorbitant interest rate; a shylock but can be referenced as a shy business. Made: to be sworn into La Cosa Nostra; synonyms: to be "straightened out," to get your button. Make one’s bones: gain credibility by killing someone. Mattresses, hitting the, taking to the: going to war with a rival Family or gang. Message job: placing the bullet in someone's body such that a specific message is sent to that person's crew or family; see through the eye and through the mouth. Mock execution: to whip someone into shape by frightening them. Omertá: the code of silence and one of the premier vows taken when being sworn into the Family. Violation is punishable by death. Off the record: an action taken without the knowledge or approval of the Family. On the record: an action sanctioned by the Family. Piece: a gun. Pinched: arrested. Pop: to murder; see burn. Points: percent of income; cut. Problem: A liability, someone likely to be whacked. Rat: a member who violates Omertá; synonyms: squealer, canary, snitch, stool pigeon, yellow dog. Shylock: loansharking. Sit-down: a meeting with the Family administration to settle disputes. Skim: Tax-free gambling profits, as in the money taken that is not reported to the IRS. Skipper: a capo. Stand-up guy: someone who refuses to rat out the Family no matter what the pressure, offer, or threat. This Thing of Ours (La Cosa Nostra): a mob family, or the entire mob. Vig: the interest payment on a loan from a loanshark (short for “vigorish"). Synonym: juice. Vouch for: to personally guarantee--with one's life--the reputation of someone dealing with the Family. Whack: to murder; see burn. Zips: American Mafiosi's derogatory term for Italian Mafiosi which is usually used as a light sarcastic phrase rather than an insult.

“Judges, lawyers, and politicians have a license to steal. We don’t need one.” ~ Carlo Gambino The Giannetti Crime Family The Giannetti Crime Family is a La Cosa Nostra family in Liberty City, Liberty. The Great Arrival In the late 19th Century, the whole peninsula of Italy was brought under one flag but the land and people were by no means unified. There was violence and chaos regularly and poverty was widespread, the richest of areas were even finding the struggles. The government was in no position to help its people and eventually many Italians overheard chants about the 'American Dream', where boatloads of Italy’s people moved to America in an event known as 'The Great Arrival' which lasted from 1880-1920. During those five decades, it was just numerous Italian-American gangs that preyed on each other in their own neighborhoods. It wasn't until prohibition was ratified in 1919-1920 that the U.S Government would unknowingly cause the butterfly effect of organized crime in Liberty City today. Once the gangs realized the large amounts of money they could make from the production and distribution of alcohol, many of them started to surge in the power and money. Two gangs in specific grew exponentially, causing a bloody power struggle to break out in an event known as the 'Castellammarese War' in the 1930's. The war was fought for control of Italian-American organized crime in Liberty City and eventually, after many failed assassination attempts, Maranzano declared himself the boss of all bosses (capo di tutti i capi) and reorganized all the Liberty City gangs into the crime families we know today. In September 1931, Maranzano was assassinated in his office by a squad of contract killers. In the aftermath, the families added a Commission to mediate disputes and prevent more gang warfare. Also in 1931, Leo Mancini became head of the gang, now the Mancini crime family. Mancini also received a seat on the new Commission. The modern era of the Cosa Nostra had begun. Mancini Era Leo Mancini now took over the family, still believing in the Old World mob traditions of "honor", "tradition", "respect" and "dignity." However, he was in a somewhat troubling position. To compensate for loss of massive revenues with the end of Prohibition in 1933, Leo Mancini moved his family into extortion, union racketeering, and illegal gambling operations including horse betting, running numbers and lotteries. He'd get close to Jewish hitmen who performed contract murders for the Cosa Nostra nationwide, had close ties with the vice-president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). Through the ILA, Mancini and the family completely controlled the Algonquin and Dukes waterfronts. With the family's backing, the Dukes waterfront was Mancini's bailiwick for 30 years. Around this time, John Giannetti was also promoted within the Mancini family. Mancini's underboss, Adduci, was creating multiple conflicts within the family during this time. Mancini felt uncomfortable with Adduci's close ties to top mobsters outside his family. Mancini was also jealous of Anastasia's strong power base in the ILA as well as with the Jews. Eventually, during a failed plot by Mancini to assassinate Adduci, Mancini ended up dead instead. Called to face the Commission, Adduci refused to accept guilt for the Mancini murder. However, Anastasia did claim that Mancini had been planning to kill him. Adduci was already running the family in his "absence" and the Commission members were intimidated by Adduci. With the support of a boss from another crime family, the Commission confirmed Adduci's ascension as boss of what was now the Adduci crime family. John Giannetti maneuvered himself into the position of consigliere soon after. Plot against Adduci In 1952, Adduci ordered the murder of a Broker man who had aided in the capture of a bank robber. The Commission were outraged by this killing which brought a lot of heat on the families so they recruited John Giannetti to the conspiracy by offering him the chance to replace Adduci and become boss himself. In May 1957, however, Giannetti soon learned that Adduci was conspiring to regain power over the family. It was then decided Adduci had to die. Giannetti Era With Adduci's death, John Giannetti became boss of what was now called the Giannetti crime family. Giannetti then allegedly helped pay a Puerto Rican drug dealer to falsely implicate a rival mob boss in a drug deal, sentencing them to 15 years in federal prison. Giannetti quickly built the family into the most powerful crime family in the United States. He was helped by an offshore gaming house in Cuba and the Bahamas, a lucrative business for the Cosa Nostra. That combined with everything else Giannetti built during boss brought in an astonishing annual income to the family. In 1964, the head of the another crime family conspired to kill Giannetti and his allies on the Commission. However, the man they entrusted with the job instead revealed the plot to Giannetti. The Commission, led by Giannetti, forced the current boss to resign and as a result, they fled Liberty City. Giannetti then became the most powerful leader of the Liberty City families. Giannetti's influence also stretched into behind-the-scenes control of the every crime family. In 1972, Giannetti allegedly even picked the front boss of another crime family. Under Giannetti, the family gained particularly strong influence in the construction industry. It acquired behind-the-scenes control of Teamsters Local 282, which controlled access to most building materials in the Liberty City area and could literally bring most construction jobs in Liberty to a halt. On October 15, 1976, Giannetti died at home of natural causes. Against expectations, he had appointed Caggiano to succeed him over his underboss Delistefano. Giannetti appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Caggiano's focus on white collar businesses. Delistefano, at the time, was imprisoned for tax evasion and was unable to contest Caggiano's succession. Caggiano's succession was confirmed at a meeting on November 24, with Delistefano present. Caggiano arranged for Delistefano to remain as underboss while directly running traditional Cosa Nostra activities such as extortion, robbery, and loansharking. While Delistefano accepted Caggiano's succession, the deal effectively split the Giannetti family into two rival factions. Jack Galletti Over the next couple decades the Giannetti family went through many successes but also many hardships after his death. Caggiano become boss and took over the white collar businesses. Delistefano dealt with more traditional LCN activities and allegedly did up to 200 murders until the mid 1980s. As Caggiano became more powerful in the Giannetti family, he started to make large amounts of money from construction concrete. Caggiano's son was the president of Scara-Mix Concrete Corporation, which exercised a near monopoly in Alderney on construction concrete. Caggiano also handled the Giannetti interests in the "Concrete Club," a club of contractors selected by The Commission to handle contracts between $2 million and $15 million. In return, the contractors gave a two percent kickback of the contract value to The Commission. Caggiano also supervised Giannetti control of Teamsters Union Local Chapter 282, which provided workers to pour concrete at all major building projects in Liberty City. In response to the rise of the Giannetti family, federal prosecutors targeted the family leadership. On March 31, 1984 a federal grand jury indicted Caggiano and 20 other Giannetti members and associates with charges of drug trafficking, murder, theft, and prostitution. The following year, he received a second indictment for his role in the Mafia's Commission. These incidents drove the family into an even further downward spiral. Jack Galletti, a Delistefano protégé starting becoming a big vocal critic of Caggiano. Galletti was ambitious and wanted to be boss himself. Galletti rapidly became dissatisfied with Caggiano's leadership, regarding the new boss as being too isolated and greedy. Like other members of the family, Galletti also personally disliked Caggiano. After Delistefano died of cancer on December 2, 1985, Caggiano revised his succession plan: appointing Bacchini as underboss, while making plans to break up Galletti's crew. Infuriated by this, and Caggiano's refusal to attend Delistefano's wake, Galletti's resolved to kill his boss. That evening the boss and underboss were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under Galletti's command. Galletti watched the hit from his car. Several days after the Caggiano murder, Galletti was named to a three-man committee to temporarily run the family pending the election of a new boss. It was also announced that an internal investigation into Caggiano's murder was underway. However, it was an open secret that Galletti was acting boss in all but name, and nearly all of the family's capos knew he had been the one behind the hit. He was formally acclaimed as the new boss of the Giannetti family at a meeting of 20 capos held on January 15, 1986. Galletti appointed Frank D'Aggano as underboss and promoted Frank Vecchione to capo. At the time of his takeover, the Giannetti family was regarded as the most powerful American mafia family, with an annual income of $500 million. On April 13, 1986, D'Aggano was killed when his car was bombed visiting a Caggiano loyalist. It was carried out as revenge for Caggiano and Bacchini by killing their successors; Galletti also planned to visit that day, but canceled, and the bomb was detonated after a soldier who rode with D'Aggano was mistaken for the boss. Bombs had long been banned by the Mafia out of concern that it would put innocent people in harm's way, leading the Giannettis to initially suspect that "zips"—Sicilian mafiosi working in the U.S.—were behind it; zips were well known for using bombs. Following the bombing, the judge presiding over Galletti's racketeering trial, rescheduled to avoid a jury tainted by the resulting publicity. From jail, Galletti ordered the murder of Robbie Dell’Aquila; both Dell’Aquila and Vecchione had been trying to secretly succeed and challenge Galletti's leadership until Vecchione accused Dell’Aquila of this publicly to the family. Afterwards, Vecchione got promoted to underboss. The family then ran smoothly until 1992. 1990s-2000s Conviction On June 23, 1992, Galletti got sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and a $250,000 fine. Galletti surrendered to federal authorities to serve his prison time on December 14, 1992. On September 26, 1994, a federal judge sentenced Vecchione to five years in prison. Galletti continued to rule the family from prison, while day-to-day operation of the family shifted to three capos acting as bosses. Galletti's son then took over as head of the family, but he pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1999 and was sentenced to 77 months in jail. When Galletti died in prison on June 10, 2002 his brother took over as boss behind Vecchione's back. The family's fortunes dwindled to a remarkable extent, given their power a few decades ago when they were considered the most powerful criminal organization in America. Pete Galletti was imprisoned as well in 2003, and the leadership allegedly went to Vecchione but most historians believe the power got put back on the three capos. Pete Galletti remained the official boss while in prison. Galletti rivals regained control of the family, mostly because the rest of Pete Galletti's loyalists were either jailed or under indictments. The former head of the family's white collar operations and one of the last Galletti supporters, turned state's evidence due to increased law enforcement and credible evidence to be presented in his racketeering trial. He chose to testify against mobsters from all of the Five Families. He testified against Pete Galletti, among others, from 2003 to 2005, and then disappeared into the Witness Protection Program. On Thursday, February 7, 2008, a federal grand jury issued an indictment which led to the arrest of 54 Giannetti family members and associates in all of Alderney, Dukes, Bohan, Broker, and Algonquin. This indictment was the culmination of a four-year FBI investigation known as Operation Old Bridge. It accused 62 people of murder, conspiracy, drug trafficking, robberies, extortion, and other crimes. When federal and Liberty State authorities rounded up the entire Giannetti family hierarchy in early 2008, Vecchione took back control of the Giannetti family while the administration members were in prison. In July 2011 it was made official, Vecchione was promoted to boss, effectively putting an end to the Galletti regime. Frank Vecchione and the Modern Giannetti Family Frank Vecchione has been in power unofficially for 3 years and officially for 10. The family continues to be active in a variety of criminal enterprises including gambling, loan sharking, extortion, labor racketeering, fraud, money laundering and narcotic trafficking. During 2009, the Giannetti family saw many important members released from prison. On November 18, 2009, the LCPD arrested 22 members and associates of the Giannetti crime family as part of "Operation Pure Luck". The raid was a result of cases involving loan sharking and sports gambling in Alderney. There were also charges of bribing Liberty City court officers and Sanitation Department officials. In 2012 the Giannetti family still had some control on piers in Broker and Alderney through infiltrated labor unions. Indictments from 2014 to 2018 showed that the family was still very active in Liberty City. In 2014, FBI and Italian police arrested 17 members and associates of the 'Ndrangheta Mafia, and 7 members and associates of the Giannetti. The arrested were accused by prosecutors and law enforcement officials of organizing a transatlantic drug ring with aim of shipping 500 kg of pure cocaine from Guyana in South America to the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria. A US Attorney singled out Giannetti family associate Francis Lupino as the linchpin of the operation, accusing him of conspiring with his father in law to set up the network. On December 12, 2017, five associates of the Giannetti family were arrested and accused of operating an illegal empire from January 2014 to December 2017, on charges of racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking, loansharking and illegal gambling. Associates of the Giannetti family were also alleged to have sold cocaine, marijuana and Xanax in large quantities. Prosecutors said they sourced the drugs in kilograms then sold it to the others to be distributed, facing a minimum of 10 years in prison. An undercover agent alleged that he paid $1,250 for an ounce of cocaine and also bought nearly a kilogram in 12 different sales between February and June in 2016. Ambrosio was said to have been the head of a very profitable loansharking and illegal gambling operation, including unlicensed gambling parlors, electronic gaming machines and internet sports betting. Prosecutors said that he attempted to obstruct the federal grand jury proceeding into their criminal activities by intimidating a loan shark victim into lying to law enforcement. In July 2019, Tommy Giannetti, (considered by the FBI to be a significant member of the Giannetti family) was one of 15 suspected members arrested in coordinated raids in Sicily and the United States. Italian police said Giannetti was caught on video meeting with ranking members on a speedboat off the coast of Liberty a year earlier. Robbie Giannetti was also arrested. On December 5, 2019, a Giannetti family capo and nine other gangsters were arrested in a federal mob crackdown in Bohan, on allegations of threats of violence to extort money. All of these things showcased that the Giannetti family is still one of the most active families in the Liberty City area. OOC Section ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Giannetti Crime Family aims to portray a completely fictional yet realistic La Cosa Nostra family in LC-RP's Liberty City. This faction takes inspiration from the real Gambino crime family while taking liberties of its own for creativity and originality. A big factor we wish to display is the politics of LCN and organized crime around it as well as an accurate depiction of The Commission. Open to being very interactive and giving anyone we come across an authentic experience of dealing with the American mob. For all that wish to take part, we will be following a strict canvas of rules to make sure all roleplay is kept to an authentic level while also being fun for everyone apart of the organization or around it. One very important reminder to anyone who intends to make a Italian character is that we will not condone off the boat characters. A high majority of Italian Americans do not speak or know Italian besides basic phrases, being said that any use of the Italian language to powergame hiding conversations or talk shit on people will not be tolerated at all. Anyone who joins this faction has been warned. Any and all people who join the faction accept a CK (Character Kill) rights clause. Faction leadership reserves the right to CK (Character Kill) anyone in the faction and we in turn ensure we won’t kill characters under any circumstances without valid reasons. Screenshots are posted with the approval of leadership. More information on the faction, and inquires to become part of the faction or any issues regarding it can be directed to the following person(s) on the forums or Discord: @TheMac_Aodhagain Mac Aodhagain#0858 [Work In Progress] - Official Faction Discord